On the Edge has been one of the most difficult books I’ve had yet to review. It’s labeled romantic suspense but I’d call it emotional suspense instead. A death does occur in the prologue, but the suspense is generated by the very strong love/hate relationship the protagonist has with a possible suspect in that death. In creating this suspense the author is entirely successful. Where she is less successful is in making the reader believe that her protagonist has been as successful in navigating the emotional and psychological results.

Psychologist Meredith Greene has a lot of baggage of her own, and when one of her patients dies in a climbing accident, she takes it particularly hard. Bridget Lawrence came to Meredith ostensibly to get help with her fear of heights. She’d begun dating world famous climber Erik Amundsson and wanted to be able to join him on his expeditions. Meredith worried that Bridget had fallen emotionally too hard and too fast. And when Bridget is killed while climbing with Erik, she is sure her fears were justified. She is certain Erik is culpable in Bridget’s death.

Meredith is initially hard to like and that doesn’t change much as the book progresses. She’s judgmental and arrogant in her personal beliefs. She’s sure of Erik’s guilt because her own father is guilty of equally reckless behavior. Years before her father insisted he and her mother head out during a snowstorm. Her mother was killed in an accident and ever since, Meredith has barely tolerated her father. She is still angry, especially as she feels her father never fully took responsibility for his decision. So there’s some basis for her baggage, but much of it is self-imposed, making it all the more difficult to like her.

Determined to confront Erik, Meredith agrees to attend a party of the Aspen elite with her former fiancé. Erik’s powerful personality puts her plans on hold and Meredith instead finds herself drawn into an obsessive relationship with the man. Everything she thought she knew, she’s not so sure of anymore and Erik makes it clear that certain areas of his past are completely off limits.

Though I didn’t like Meredith and sometimes found her almost painful to read about, I was fascinated by her, and the credit for that clearly goes to the author. In every relationship Meredith’s had, she’s been the one to set the emotional pace. This time around she can’t. Watching this very controlled woman lose control to a man who is potentially dangerous was very suspenseful and intriguing. Certainly few of us would seek out such a relationship but in a small corner of our hearts we wonder about it. Particularly if we think we see it happening to others.

Meredith’s increasing obsession is an emotional roller coaster and for most of the book, it’s the heart of what’s suspenseful. Is Erik what he seems? Is Meredith caught in a destructive relationship she can’t escape? Those are the plot points the reader is caught up in. But the author’s attempts to turn this internal suspense external changes the entire tone of the book, and for the worse.

The external plotting includes a Saudi prince, Erik’s mysterious ties to him, and a federal agent named John McCord, who is investigating Erik and all of his associates, including Meredith. Meredith and John suddenly hit it off and the story abruptly becomes the romantic suspense novel it is billed as. It’s as though the author realized she’d drawn Meredith’s out of control emotional spiral too well and couldn’t figure a way out for her. She throws in some international intrigue and a hunky new man as distractions, but it doesn’t work.

What made this so difficult to review is that I’d probably have given it a higher grade if Ms. Erickson had not wrapped up everything so neatly at the end. Less of the probability of a HEA and more of Meredith dealing with the emotional fall-out would have made this a more successful book. The very real and well-drawn complexity of her feelings are the draw. Read the book for that.